Marten Creek Hot Springs
Seasonal
Season: mid to late summer only; multiple river fords limit accessOpen seasons
- Access
- Multiday backpack on an unmaintained, hard-to-find route
- Reservations
- None required
- Accommodations
- No known campsites nearby; make your own camp (Leave No Trace)
Marten Creek Hot Springs is one of the most remote soaks in Idaho: a little-known wilderness hot spring deep in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest, in Idaho County. There is no road, no trailhead sign, and no maintained path to rely on — reaching it is a multiday backcountry undertaking, and very little about the spring is documented.
What is known is this: hot water bubbles out of the top of a rock outcrop and spills down into Marten Creek, a very seasonal tributary in the Selway River drainage. The USGS plots Marten Hot Springs on the Mink Peak 7.5-minute quadrangle, in the same wild country the Selway River Trail crosses on its roughly 50-mile run between Paradise and Race Creek. The approach involves multiple river fords, which is why mid to late summer — after runoff drops and fords become passable — is the only realistic window. Anyone attempting it needs full wilderness skills: map and compass navigation, ford judgment, bear-country food storage, and complete self-reliance.
Marten Creek Hot Springs Soak Stats
- Season: Mid to late summer (multiple river fords limit access)
- Access Type: Multiday backpack; hard-to-find, no maintained trail documented
- Public Land: Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest
- GPS: 46.006, -115.021 (USGS, Mink Peak 7.5 quad)
- Water Temperature: Not documented
- Usage Level: Extremely low
Marten Creek Camping
There are no known primitive campsites near the spring. Expect to find and make your own camp well away from the water, following full Leave No Trace wilderness practice — and expect the route-finding, not the soak, to be the main event of the trip. Because the spring’s water temperature has never been documented, there is no reliable way to know in advance whether the creek-side soaking will be hot, warm, or cooled by seasonal flow. That uncertainty is part of the deal with a spring this far off the map.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When is the best time to visit?
Mid to late summer is the only realistic window, after runoff drops and the approach's river fords become passable.
How hard is the access?
No road reaches it, no sign marks it, and no maintained path exists: expect a multiday backpack with several river fords, map-and-compass navigation, careful ford judgment, and bear-country food storage.
How hot is the water?
Nobody knows. The temperature has never been documented, so a visit could find the creek-side water hot, merely warm, or chilled by the season's flow, with no way to tell beforehand.
Can I camp nearby?
No campsites are known nearby, so plan on creating your own camp, pitched well back from the water, and leaving it traceless.
Why do maps call it Marten Hot Springs?
Federal maps use the shorter name: the USGS records the feature as Marten Hot Springs, Mink Peak quadrangle, at 46.006, -115.021; this listing titles it for Marten Creek, the stream it feeds.
What is the spring like?
Water wells up hot from a rock outcrop's crest and runs down into the creek; what kind of soak waits there, nobody can promise, and the route-finding is the main event.
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